Primary Care Pharmacy - Could It Be For You?

Rob Davies, Practice Pharmacist at Healthy Prestatyn Rhuddlan Primary Care Practice in North Wales, Board Member of The Welsh Pharmacy Board of The Royal Pharmaceutical Society writes a thought provoking article for BPSA members.

Should all pharmacists prescribe?  Should pharmacists do all the prescribing? Is primary care the future for pharmacy? Is there a future where pharmacists will be working in out-of-hours centres?  Could pharmacists become partners in General Medical Practices (GMPs)?  Could you become a consultant pharmacist in primary care? 

If I had asked those questions 25 years ago when I first started working with GPs, I would have been laughed at.  I'd even have laughed myself.  However, pharmacists are now accepted as valued team members in primary care and this is supported by colleagues in the RCGP and BMA. It is probably now unusual for a primary care organisation, CCG or Health Board etc not to have a pharmacist team.  Many pharmacists, including myself, now work in GP surgeries  or primary care centres, in a variety of different roles.  So returning to those initial questions, why shouldn't pharmacists do many of those roles and more? Indeed you could be one of them . As for pharmacists doing all the prescribing- is it impossible? which profession is trained to be the medicines expert.  Here I want to whet your appetite by briefly explaining my current role and then give advice as to how you could move into a career in primary care.

 For the rest of this article, click here (PDF).